Door operator



Jan. 2, 1934.

F. L. NICHOLS DQOR OPERATOR Filed March 2, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 2, 1934. F. 1.. NICHOLS 1,941,574

DOOR OPERATOR Filed March 2, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 k W 4/4? W M M N 5 .\-\WNL EM 9 3 3 E a m M w u 2 \g gi A Patented Jan. 2, 1934 7 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE '7 Claims.

My invention relates particularly to mechanism for operating garage and like doors of the overhead type, that is, doors that move to and from approximately horizontal overhead positions, and the invention is directed to extremely simple andhighly efficient motor or power-actuated means for operating such doors.

Generally stated, the invention consists of the novel construction, combinations and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

In the present instance, I have illustrated my improved motor-actuated or power means for operating the doors as applied to a commercial type of garage door, wherein the top of the door is supported for pivotal and horizontal travelling movements on horizontal overhead guide rails, and the lower portion of the door is connected to the free ends of hanger levers pivotally sup- 20 ported from the door frame or side walls of the doorway. Hitherto, doors of the above type hung in the manner indicated, have been hand-operated and in accordance with my invention, I employ power preferably from a suitable motor, such as an electrical motor connected through reducing gears to the hanger levers.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective looking at the inside of the garage and showing the door in closed position;

Fig. 2 is a view corresponding to Fig. 1, but showing the door in a raised position but not moved to an extreme open position;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation illustrating particularly the manner of connecting the motor to the hanger lever;

Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section illustrating a modified means for connecting the motor to the hanger lever.

For the operation for wide and heavy doors, I have found it advisable to apply a motor at each side of the door and connect each motor independently to the adjacent hanger lever. For the operation of relatively narrow and lighter doors, a motor at one side of the door will answer the purpose. Where the single motor is employed, it may be connected to but one of the two hanger levers or it may be, by intermediate connections, connected to operate both of the hanger levers. When the two motors are employed, to operate the single door, the said two motors should be connected in series and simultaneously operated.

The walls of the garage are indicated by the numeral 6 and the ceiling or roof structure is indicated by the numeral '7. The door opening is 0 indicated by the numeral 8. For the purposes of this case, all of the wall structure immediately adjacent to the door opening 8 may be treated as part of the door frame.

The garage door, which, as shown, is made up of 35 several door sections is indicated as an entirety by the numeral 9, the sections thereof being connected together by metal straps 10. The door 9, of course, fits into the door opening 8. To the upper corners of the door are rigidly secured 7o hanger brackets 11, the inwardly offset portions of which are provided with roller-equipped studs 12. The roller-equipped studs 12 work in the channels of thechannel-shaped guide rails 13 that are approximately horizontally disposed and are supported above the top of the door opening a considerable distance below the ceiling '7. As illustrated, the outer end of the rails 13 are rigidly secured to the door frame or wall structure by brackets 14 and at their inner ends they so are hung from the ceiling by bracket-forming straps 15. The hanger levers 16, at points where they have hitherto been simply pivoted, are rigidly secured to pintles or short shafts 1'7 shown as directly journaled in bearing brackets 18 bolted or otherwise rigidly secured to the door frame adjacent to the door opening. Where the two motors are employed, one at each side of the door, the arrangement will be the same on both sides except that the operating connections on the one side will be to the left and the other side to the right. In the particular arrangement illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, the pintles 1'7 are connected by couplings 19 to a short axially aligned shaft 20 journaled in the gear housing21 secured to the wall adjacent to the door opening. Below or adjacent to each gear housing 21 is a motivating device in the form of a small reversible electric motor 22, shown as secured to a bearing bracket 23 on the wall structure. The 100 shaft 24 of the rotor of the motor is suitably connected, as shown, through a coupling 25 to a short shaft 26 that extends into the adjacent gear housing 21.

Shaft 20 and hence pintle 1'7 will be driven from motor 25 at relatively very low speed through any suitable speed-reducing mechanism, but preferably through gears contained in the gear housing 21 and which gears may be of the arrangement disclosed in my pending applica- 110 tion, Serial Number 439,000, entitled Door opener, filed March 26, 1930. However, as a modification of this speed-reducing mechanism, shaft 26 may be provided with a spiral worm 27, as shown in Fig. 5, arranged to engage a worm gear 28 secured to a short shaft 17' Journaled in bearing 18 and by said shalt rigidly connected to the adjacent hanger lever 16'.

The hanger levers 16 have relatively short upwardly projecting'end portions to which door counterpoising springs are attached. As shown, these counterpoising springs 29 are heavy coiled springs which, at their lower ends, are anchored to brackets 30 secured either to the floor or to the wall structure or both. The upper ends 01' the springs 29 are connected to the upper ends of said hanger arms 16 preferably'through metallic straps or links 31. In the particular arrangement illustrated, caps 32 are clinched to the upper ends of the springs 29 and are provided with threaded stems 33 that work through perforations in the offset lower ends of the links 31 and are provided with nuts 34 for adjusting the tension of said springs so that they will properly counterpoise the door.

As above indicated, doors of the above type have hitherto been operated by hand and under which operation the levers 16 simply operate to control the outward and upward swinging movement of the lower portion of the door when the door is open. In my improved arrangement, the power for actually operating the door is transmitted through these so-called hanger levers 16. When the motors operate to swing the lower ends of the hanger levers 16 outward; the initial movement has practically no lifting movement to the door, but simply an outward movement which moves the door to such angle that upward pressure on the door will cause the upper portion of the door to move inward on the rails 13 to and beyond the rails position shown in Fig. 2.

Of course, when the motors are reversed, the door movement will be reversed, that is, the door will be moved from its elevated open position, downward into closed position shown in Fig. 1. The electrical connections for controlling motors have not been shown, but would require only the well-known supply circuit and controlling switch.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a door and means supporting the upper portion of said door for approximately horizontal travelling pivotal motion, oi. a motor mounted on a fixed structure, an oscillatory pintle driven from said motor at reduced speed, a lever carried by said pintle and having its free end pivotally connected to the lower portion of the door, said lever having a relatively short upper end, and a door-counterpoising spring attached to the upper end of said lever and anchored to the fixed structure.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 in which said spring is connectedto said lever by a link and nut-equipped rod whereby the tension or said spring may be adjusted to properly counterpoise the door.

3. The combination with a door supported at its upper portion for pivotal and approximately horizontal travelling movement, a pair of levers provided with pintles aflording fixed pivots therefor, the free ends of said levers being pivotally connected to the lower portion of said door, motor-driven speed-reducing connections applied to said pintles i'or oscillating said levers to open and close the door, and door-counterpoising sp ings attached to said levers and anchored to the fixed structure.

4. The combination with a door supported at its upper portion for pivotal and approximately horizontal travelling movements, of a pair of laterally spaced levers having pintles affording fixed pivots therefor, the free ends of said levers being pivotally connected to the lower portion of the door, and individual electric motors applied on opposite sides of the door and independently connected to the respective levers through speedreducing connections.

5. The combination with a door and means for supporting the upper portion oi. said door for approximately horizontal traveling pivotal motion, oi a motor mounted on a fixed structure, an oscillatory pintle driven from said motor, a lever carried by said pintle at its intermediate portion for movements with the pintle, said lever having a relatively long end pivotally connected to the lower portion of the door and having a relatively short end, and a door counterpoising spring attached to the said relatively short end of the arm and anchored to a fixed structure.

6. The combination with a door and means for supporting the upper portion of said door for approximately horizontal traveling pivotal motion, of a motor mounted on a fixed structure, an oscillatory pintle driven from said motor, a lever carried by said pintle at its intermediate portion for movements with the pintle, said lever having a relatively long end pivotally connected to the lower portion of the door and having a relatively short end, and door counterpoising means attached to the said short end of the lever.

7. The combination with a door and means for supporting the upper portion of said door for approximately horizontal traveling pivotal motion, of a motor mounted on a fixed structure, an oscillatory pintle driven from said motor, a lever carried by said pintle and having its free end pivotally connected to the lower portion of the door, and door counterpoising means attached to said lever.

FRED L. NICHOLS. 

